Let me begin with a confession: I have seen the equivalent of 30 minutes of Duck Dynasty. This makes me uncommitted to the show. I have no intention of watching any more of it. At least, until Phil Robertson goes out and hits a home-run. A&E exercising their free speech called it a foul ball, and beyond that treated Phil as unprofessional. Rumors are that Phil has been looking for a reason to leave and he just found himself one. Read the Rest.<>
GLAAD Is Not Happy, Happy, Happy
Unless you live under a rock, have been out duck hunting, or are not connected to social media, you have probably heard that the A&E Network has indefinitely suspended Phil Robertson for comments that he made in an interview for an upcoming edition of GQ Magazine. The comments drawing the greatest amount of ire from certain circles are these: “It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
Mr. Robertson is right, it is not logical, nor is it natural. Paul, to the Church in Rome, writes, Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:24-27). These words come under Paul’s description of what is involved when God’s wrath is revealed (Rom. 1:18).
Later, Phil goes on to say, “Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong. Sin becomes fine.” When asked, “What, in your mind, is sinful?”, he replies, “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.” Then citing part of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, he says: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.” Wilson Cruz, spokesman for GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), stated, ”Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil’s lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe.” My question to Mr. Cruz is simply, “What did Phil lie about? What untruth did he tell?” Ask any Christian saved out of the homosexual lifestyle, and they agree with the Apostle Paul that they needed to be redeemed from that life. What does Paul go on to say in 1 Corinthians 6:11? And that’s what some of you were, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the by the Spirit of our God (emphasis added). Note Paul’s use of the past tense. Some of his readers were that, but they are not that now.
So why is GLAAD so upset? Why the outrage from them, and other like-minded organizations and groups? Because they have been exposed. Because the truth has exposed their futile thinking, and foolish, darkened hearts (Rom. 1:21-22). Despite all of the attempts of the media, TV sit-coms, and movies to promote homosexuality as normal or just another natural expression of love, it is not. Phil Robertson has unmasked what is ugly and wicked. It is the spirit of the age. It is this same spirit that cloaks itself in the language of pro-choice and a woman’s freedom, when, in reality, abortion is the murder and dismemberment of living babies. Likewise, homosexuality may claim to be more than homosexual intercourse, but it is no less than that, and is, therefore, abhorrent and condemnable (see Romans 2).
Phil Robertson is a man who has been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. He knows and professes that homosexuals need the same. In making these statements he stands with the Apostle Paul. He stands with Jesus his King. He stands where all true Christians are called to stand: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Ephesians 6:10-13).
Joe Thacker is the Pastor of St. Mark Reformed Church Brentwood, TN <>
Marc Hays: One Miracle of Speech
The following quote is from Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy’s The Origin of Speech, chapter 4 “The Conflict of Political Sense and Common Sense.” This is a conflict we have all felt, but probably haven’t expressed this way…
“The cry for peace and order is a desperate cry. Shouting for freedom and for regeneration of the good old days is of the utmost violence. The lullabies and sugar coating of common sense are not acceptable to crying, weeping, shouting, raging people. They must experience the miracle of seeing the dead come to life again, and foes become friends, and dissent become agreement, and shouts become new words. They must see and hear and touch before they believe. Formal speech produces exactly these miracles. The dead seem to come to life, shout becomes prayers, foes come to terms; inner dissent becomes harmonious song of strophe and antistrophe, of dialogue and chorus.
If speech did not produce these miracles for society, it would be unnecessary. As a “means of communication” it is only used by common sense. But 10,000 languages have been spoken over thousands of years just as often as means of excommunication as of communication. They have cursed the werewolf and the demon and the enemy just as often as they have blessed the child and invoked the spirit and obeyed the Lord and reconciled the enemy. Any tribe has been exposed to constant attack from within and without. It’s formal language has kept it in existence as a body politic through migrations over the earths and over decimatinons and ravages through time. Miraculously, it is anchored in an eternity and defies space and time. Speech is the political constitution of a group beyond the lifetime and living space of any individual, beyond common sense and physical sense.”
<>
Harold Camping Dies at 92
The California preacher who used his evangelical radio network and thousands of billboards to broadcast the end of the world has died at age 92.
Family Radio Network marketing manager Nina Romero said Harold Camping died at his home on Sunday. She said he had been hospitalized after falling.
Camping was a retired civil engineer who first predicted the Rapture would happen in September 1994. When Judgment Day didn’t come to pass, he blamed it on a mathematical error.
After his second failed prediction in May 2011, the preacher again revised his prophecy, saying he had been off by five months.
Camping said he felt so terrible after the cataclysmic event didn’t occur in October 2011 either that he took refuge in a motel.
<>
As I sit at an International Airport…
I am sitting at Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport waiting to board a flight for the Dominican Republic. My wife’s sister is a missionary there, and we’re going to visit for a couple weeks. As I sit and watch people board, I am getting giddy about Christ’s Kingdom. There are people everywhere; more than I can count. They’re a field that is white unto harvest, and they’re mostly “brown.” Having 3 bi-racial children, we left the stereotypical, ethnic/racial verbiage behind us several years ago. God has a huge palette of colors, shades, and hues, and he is very creative with it: lots and lots of beautiful people.
Our temporary visit to Heaven, and our never-ending life on the new earth is going to look a lot like an International Airport: more beautiful people than there is sand on the seashore. We’ll turn around and see a multitude no man can count. Praise be to God for the international kingdom Jesus is building. Praise be for God for his mercy to the Hays Haus. May we be a blessing to God’s People (present and future) as we visit them in the Dominican Republic.<>
Uri Brito: Interview with Jason Hood
Over at Trinity Talk Radio, I have an interview with Jason Hood, author of Imitating God in Christ: Recapturing the Biblical Pattern.<>
Bloom Where You’re Planted, or Don’t
It must have been at least 1,000 times that well-meaning role models told me, “Bloom where you’re planted.” As soon as I started going to youth summer camps and youth retreats and youth groups, everybody and their brother had the same advice. “Bloom where you’re planted.”
Some phrases become cliché over time. This one was born that way, which doesn’t necessarily make it bad advice. It is biblical to compare people with plants. “He is like a tree planted by the streams of water.” (Ps. 1:3) “A good tree bears good fruit.” (Mt 7:17) ” Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2,3) And the list goes on and on. So, “bloom where you’re planted,” is not metaphorically defunct. The analogy is fine.
The content is fine, as well as the form. A flowering plant fulfills its role before its Creator by producing a flower. As children of God, we too ought to fulfill our purposes. As a matter of general principle, that about covers it, but there’s also a personal application that is beneficial for the Christian to remember: A rose doesn’t produce a tulip. God has given us our own personalities and gifts that are distinctive to each of us individually. As surely as a good tree doesn’t bear bad fruit, neither does a grape-vine produce jelly beans (although, that would be cool to see.) Those well-intended youth directors that exhorted us, over and over, to “bloom where we’re planted” are right; we should use our gifts and resources for God whether they be few or many. He’s happier with a devout widow and her mite, than he is with millions of dollars from someone who’s holding something back.
There’s another aspect where the adage makes a good point. We should not wait until a different situation arises to decide to get to work in Christ’s Kingdom. The “where you’re planted” part exhorts us to fulfill our callings presently, and not at some other time in some other place. If you’re always waiting for a better time to do something for God, then you’ll grow old and die without ever having done anything.
So, there are some pluses to this platitude; however, it cannot be considered a summary statement of the Christian life. First, flowers have roots, so that they are not able to move. They have to bloom where they’re planted; and secondly, they die every year. So, flowers have inherent restraints on their place, and they are born, mature, and perish within a single season. In other words, the analogy breaks down, as all analogies do at some point.
People are not restricted, by nature or decree, to one garden (Unless the universe is the “garden”, then you got me). It is true that if you are perpetually waiting for a better place before you “bloom,” then you’ll never bloom, but it is no less true that you can decide to go to a different garden, or if you’re ambitious, plant a new one. Human history began in a single garden, but God told Adam to “fill the earth and subdue it.” He was to gardenize the world. Don’t wait for God to pick you up and take you somewhere else to “bloom.” God may want you to pick up your own things, pack up the moving van, and go plant a garden for him somewhere other than where you are now. In other words, “Bloom where you’re planted,” may very well be short-sighted geographically.
Also, nature restricts flowers to a single growing season, but not people. A flower has to bloom and then start over from scratch with a new bud. It doesn’t “learn” how to grow a better flower the next time around. You, beloved, are not that way at all. Your heavenly father loves you waaaaay more than he loves the flowers of the field. (Mt. 6:25-33) You may have a meager bloom this season, but he is working in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Phillipians 2:13) Since His Spirit abides in you, you will soon be bearing better fruit. In some ways, we’re more like trees than flowers. Whether a tender sapling or an old Ent, he wants us to mature. If you’ve got a shabby bloom this season, then learn from your mistakes, pray for wisdom, and bloom a better one next season.
By way of analogy, we are like flowers, but we are not flowers. We ought to bloom where we’re planted, and we ought to realize that simply blooming where we’re planted could be short-sighted, if we consider who we really are. We are temporal image-bearers of the eternal God. We are members of Christ’s body on earth. He does not want us to bury our talent in the ground and then wait for his return. He wants us to invest it. Take the risk, for any risks are temporal. He gives returns one hundred-fold. You have been made in God’s image and called by his name. So “bloom where you’re planted,” or don’t.<>
Who needs Advent?
What’s Advent? Who needs it? Isn’t it just time to get ready for Christmas? We would do that anyway, even if there weren’t an Advent season.
Advent is the time to prepare for Christmas, but it’s more than that. It’s the time when we concentrate on Jesus’ coming return, when He will judge the world and establish justice and peace forevermore. It’s a dreadful and a wonderful prospect.
“But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.”
(Mal. 3:2)
Dreadful for those outside His kingdom, who have not yet repented and submitted to His Kingship. Wonderful for those inside, who daily face the long hard road marked by sin, pain, fear, oppression, sickness, trouble, and death.
Advent is for those who are acquainted with grief, because they will find it difficult to believe that these sorrows can come untrue. Those who grieve know that evil is real, that death is here and holds power over us still, and Jesus’ return can seem like wishful thinking. It is easy to lose heart. It is hard to believe He will ever return. It sounds like a fairy tale. Advent is for these people, because in Advent we are told in no uncertain terms, over and over again, “Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.” We are told because we need to be told. Advent is for those who desire His coming so much, they start to disbelieve it will ever happen. To them, it is said: “Emmanuel shall come to thee.”
But is life not also a road paved with hope, blessings, comfort, and joy? Yes, those too. Advent is for those who know joy and comfort, too. It is for them, because Advent reminds us that however full and good life may seem now, it is not as it should be. When we are happy and comforted, the world still groans. The earth still needs Jesus’ return. We still need Him to return. “Emmanuel shall come to thee,” is a refrain that both reminds and remonstrates, as it tells us however full we may feel, we are not full as we should be, and we must not be as Israel who forgot God in her fullness. Emmanuel shall come, and that means we must remember Him. Advent is for those whose fullness may tempt them not to desire His coming, for it teaches us to desire it much. To them, too, it is said: “Emmanuel shall come to thee.”
I need Advent. You need Advent. People next to you in the pew. Or across your street. We need to be told , “Emmanuel shall come.” We need to hear it, we need to say it, we need to sing it, we need to pray it. We need Advent because we need Jesus to come. We need to be wakeful and watchful and pray. We need to make ourselves ready. We need to live the kind of lives that conform to His coming Kingdom of justice and peace.
We need to say, “Come, Lord Jesus,” and mean it. That’s what Advent is for.<>
Docteur Dans la Cuisine
Guest Post by Mark Nenadov
Introduction
Have you ever found a little, unassuming book, only to find that takes you by the feet, and shakes you up a bit?
About seven years ago, I found such a book in the University of Windsor library here in Canada. It was an English translation of The Humaness of John Calvin: The Reformer as a Husband, Father, Pastor & Friend by Richard Stauffer.
On the surface, there’s probably nothing in that little 100 or so page book that is, earth shattering. But, nonetheless, it blew me away at the time.
Stauffer does not resort to hagiography, but attempts to give a brief and accurate portrayal of John Calvin in various spheres as Husband, Father, Pastor, and Friend was really illuminating. Stauffer clearly shows Calvin in a way that contradicts the false image of him as a cold-hearted dictator. He shows a pastor who supports the very church leadership which overthrew him. He shows a father and husband who cares for his family through difficult circumstances, such as the plague. He shows a faithful friend, who seeks out friendships and nurtures them, pouring himself out for his friends.
Three Surprising Angles
There are, however, three other aspects of Calvin which aren’t really hinted at in the title.
1. Calvin as a Bachelor. In a letter to William Farel, the single John Calvin reveals his ideals of beauty, love, and femininity. He does have a bit of a “starry eyed” side, so much so that Melanchton teases him by saying he was “dreaming of getting married”. The single life was discouraging for him, and he even once asked whether he should “search [for a wife] any more”. And, yet, the noble bachelor had a serious view of marriage, even reversing the typical platitude about celibacy, commenting that getting a wife would be done in order to “dedicate myself more completely to the Lord”. As it turns out, at the age of 31, Calvin found himself an “upright and honest…even pretty” women in Idlette de Bure.
2. Calvin as a Matchmaker. Calvin desired good matches for his friends, and sought to take actions towards that.
3. Calvin as an Insulted Man. This one is less surprising, and is generally common knowledge to most Reformed people. However, there are some surprising details to this that Stauffer covers.
One Particular Line of “Insults”
I would like to elaborate on #3 a bit. It is incredible to see how far Calvin’s opponents went to bring his name and character through the mud. I seem to remember one attack claiming that Calvin had rats crawling in his garments, or something similar to that.
Since reading Stauffer’s book, I learned that one French Catholic writer, Louis Richeome, in a hit piece on the Huguenots, actually made the audacious claim that Calvin’s impudence “surpasses that of the Devil”.
And, yet, not all of Calvin’s most staunch opponents realized how their words could be taken two ways. Stauffer’s book provides a delightful example of this. One particularly flamboyant critic of Calvin, Jacques Desmay, who was the vicar-general of the diocese of Rouen, tried to condemn Calvin, but it sounds to “Kuyperian” ears more like a commendation:
“[John Calvin] is the author of a religion of the table, the stomach, the fat, the flesh, the kitchen”
“in [John Calvin], the whole reformation only tendeth to “establish the reign of wine, women and song”.
Conclusion
Although, I am sure John Calvin would not have felt that was a fair characterization of the Reformation, I can’t help but surmise that he must have taken a certain secret delight that this was really the best Jacques Desmay could come up with.
There is some measure of truth in it in this attack, especially when we consider these statements in light of Calvin’s writings about beauty and God’s gifts. He certainly felt that God gave things such as food and drink in a spirit of “superabundant liberality”.
Joel Beeke, in Living For God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, says it well:
“Typically, Calvin uses the complexio oppositorum when explaining the Christian’s relation to the world, presenting opposites to find a middle way between them. Thus, on the one hand, cross-bearing crucifies us to the world and the world to us. On the other hand, the devout Christian enjoys this present life, albeit with due restraint and moderation, for he is taught to use things in this world for the purpose that God intended for them. Calvin was no ascetic; he enjoyed good literature, good food, and the beauties of nature.”
Calvin’s detractors took the fact that Calvin promoted the enjoyment of these good gifts, and blew this a bit out of proportion.
I suppose sometimes our enemies even get us partially right. And sometimes insults go both ways. I suppose it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if we, in our day, had a few more “Docteurs Dans la Cuisine”, theologians with a hearty appreciation for things that fill the plate and the cup. And if that causes detractors to think it is establishing a reign of “a religion of the kitchen”, so be it!
For more publications and updates on Mr. Nenadov, see Goodreads, Blog, Twitter, Linkedin, Website<>
How To Avoid Death-By-Eucharist
by Marc Hays
Growing up in a Southern Baptist church, I became accustomed to eating from the Lord’s Table once a quarter. The words of institution were read from 1 Corinthians 11, and the organ droned “Have Thine Own Way,” until everyone had been served. While the organ hummed we examined ourselves to see whether or not we should have been partaking at all. Most of us sat with heads bowed and eyes closed. (I know because I often got tired of examining myself and looked around hoping someone was doing something interesting.) Afterwards we left the auditorium in silence, not talking or fellowshipping until we had made our way into the outer hall. It was very respectful, for which I am thankful, and very somber, for which I am not.
In college, I was a member of a Primitive Baptist church, which I considered a much better experience. There was no organ, which I considered an improvement – though its absence was based on bad exegesis. Replacing the organ was robust, congregational singing in four-part, shape-noted harmony. The service of the Lord’s Supper was always followed by a foot-washing and a congregational meal. Both of which were high points in the first two decades of my life.
Compared to the Southern Baptists, the Primitives had some things going in their favor, but the thrust of the Lord’s Supper service was still focused on internal, self-scrutinizing assessment, which resulted in the feeling that this crust of bread and thimble of wine could put you on your death bed. The Primitive Baptists are working very diligently to be a “New Testament church,” employing a positivist, regulative principle of worship a that incorporates what God has said from Acts all the way to Jude. Unfortunately, this leaves out all of that revelation where God described in detail how He wants to be worshiped.
Here’s the rub. Christians should be careful to hear and to heed the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. He actually did say, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” (11:28) Next, Paul really did say, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” (11:29-30) This type of talk could push a rational person toward the Scottish church and the whole “once a year communion” practice. That would radically decrease ones chances of “death-by-Eucharist,” but is that what this is really about? Did Paul really intend to turn a meal with Jesus into a time of inner turmoil and fear?
I propose that a meal with Jesus should be a happy time. Happy. Happy. Happy. Why so happy when this is a time to remember that Jesus has died? Well, I maintain that this time should be happy because upon every remembrance of Jesus’ death, we remember that He is not still in His tomb. We remember that Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Rom 4:25). Christ is no longer present on the cross. He is no longer present in the grave. He reigns.
Why so happy when this is supposed to be a time of self-examination? We have examined ourselves already; earlier in the same service actually. The whole body present in that room ascended the hill of the Lord, corporately confessed our sin and then heard the assurance proclaimed from God’s under-shepherd that we have been forgiven in Christ. We weighed ourselves in the scales of the law and found want; we confessed this lack of conformity to God’s Word, and He was faithful and just, just like He said He’d be, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9); and we heard that our sins are forgiven in Christ proclaimed loudly and joyously by our pastor.
When self-examination is over, and at some point it is supposed to be over, it is time to feast. If the feast is your time of self-examination, then it may not be a feast with Jesus. He wants your head on his breast while you hoist your glass of wine; not your eyes on your belly button, while you wonder if you’ll make it out of the room alive.
Once, Nehemiah was interrogated by a king for being sad in his presence. Nehemiah knew better than to pull that kind of stunt, but he couldn’t help it. His heart was heavy because the place of his fathers’ graves was in ruins and the gates destroyed by fire. The king understood because Nehemiah had a good reason to be sad. Christian, your King is far more understanding than Artaxerxes could ever have been, but you have no reason to be sad. The gates are no longer in ruins. Jesus’ kingdom has come, is coming, and will come on earth as it is in heaven. What reason have you to be sad? Does your heart condemn you? God is greater than your heart, he knows everything. (1 John 3:20) Do you have sin to be confessed? Confess it. (1 John 1:9) Examine yourself, and then joyfully come. (1Cor 11:29)
Every week, my seven-year-old son, Seth, lifts his plastic, wine-filled thimble in my direction and waits for the toast. We toast and bless one another with a hearty “L’Chaim!” and then we drain it. We drink to life, because Jesus is life, and we are alive in Him. We drink to life because the grave has been conquered. We drink to life because the wages of sin have been paid, but not by us. We drink to life. We drink to Jesus.
Click on the book covers for resources for further study:
<>
